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  #301  
Old Wed 03 August 2011, 22:53
timberlinemd
Just call me: Steve #66
 
Arizona
United States of America
Here are some threads for adjusting the beast...

Setting the Y-axis square to the X-axis
http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=231

Setting the Z-slide square (perpendicular) to the table top
http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2553

Seating the Y Gantry on the X Rails - correcting a twisted gantry
http://www.mechmate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=663

Enjoy
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  #302  
Old Thu 04 August 2011, 10:11
camilleg
Just call me: Camille
 
Urbana, Illinois
United States of America
In thread t=231, Melissa, I hope you have ideas on how to make "a" thin sheet of MDF that's the full length of THIS table, rigid enough to flip over intact.

t=2553 router's already trammeled.

Last edited by domino11; Wed 13 August 2014 at 10:31..
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  #303  
Old Thu 04 August 2011, 17:59
Rusty Nuts
Just call me: Gary #86
 
Valley Grande, AL
United States of America
Hi Steve,

Thanks for the links. What I was wondering about is if you have home/limit switches how do you overide them to bump the mechanical stops to true the grantry with the steppers. It would seem if you tripped a limit it would stop before bumping the mechanical stops. Maybe an overide button in Mach?

Gary
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  #304  
Old Thu 04 August 2011, 20:58
timberlinemd
Just call me: Steve #66
 
Arizona
United States of America
Gary,
If you read the first post in t 231, Gerald suggests that auto squaring the gantry on a MM is not possible or at least not probable. He suggests that after squaring the X/Y that the squareness of the gantry will stay that way unless you hit something or run the gantry off the rails. I have found this to be quite true. I have limit switches on my machine and I rarely hit the hard stops. If I need to square the gantry I would disengage or power down the motors, pull the grantry to the hardstops, which are set to make sure the gantry is square, and while holding the gantry to the stops, engage/power up the motors. This will lock the gantry square. I will run the gantry over to the limits, which trip, override the limits, and run the gantry pass them.
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  #305  
Old Fri 05 August 2011, 14:28
Rusty Nuts
Just call me: Gary #86
 
Valley Grande, AL
United States of America
Thanks Steve,

That is what I was wanting to know. I remember reading that the motors held the gantry square once turned on, but just didn't know how everyone was squaring their gantry when first turning the machine on. I knew by rolling my grantry by hand that this was causing some out of square and that the machine would have to be checked when first turning on.

Thanks again, Gary
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  #306  
Old Thu 25 August 2011, 18:11
melissa
Just call me: Melissa #83
 
Brighton (Ontario)
Canada
Thien Baffle, completed

Some more photos of the Thien dust separator:

thien_baffle_1.jpg
thien_baffle_2.jpg

With it connected, I had to do something with all the sawdust from surfacing the table. I felt like a vacuum-cleaner salesman, as I proceeded to empty the bag onto the floor, and then vacuum it up:

emptying_sawdust.jpeg
vacuuming_sawdust.jpg

The result is that the vast majority stayed in the Thien separator -- I couldn't tell if any made it through to the dust collector's bag. Mission accomplished!

Last edited by Gerald D; Fri 26 August 2011 at 11:06..
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  #307  
Old Thu 25 August 2011, 18:16
melissa
Just call me: Melissa #83
 
Brighton (Ontario)
Canada
More clamp knobs. I used a two-part toolpath. The first part made the holes in the middle. I then inserted screws with washers, to hold down the knobs during stage 2.

The second toolpath cut the round base of the knobs, and then the handle part. With the knobs attached with screws, I didn't need to bother with tabs to keep them secured.

clamp_knobs.jpg
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  #308  
Old Thu 25 August 2011, 18:21
melissa
Just call me: Melissa #83
 
Brighton (Ontario)
Canada
click-together boxes

My first attempt at click-together assembly. The box is made of 1/2" plywood. The fit was bang-on, and the tabs make assembly much easier, as it self-aligns. More about boxes below .

click_together_box_1.jpg
click_together_box_2.jpg

Last edited by Gerald D; Fri 26 August 2011 at 11:06..
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  #309  
Old Thu 25 August 2011, 18:48
melissa
Just call me: Melissa #83
 
Brighton (Ontario)
Canada
Squaring the gantry

My brother Camille was visiting recently. He helped me align the gantry, among other things we built using the mechmate.

We found it challenging to square the gantry by incrementally adjusting the shims. In fact, at one point, we adjusted it square. However, the direction we adjusted in, brought one of the X motor bolts into contact with the rail, which we discovered when pushing the gantry by hand, and encountering resistance. We quickly reset the shims on that side of the gantry (nearest 0,0), and made all further adjustments on the far side.

The method we eventually employed was to place half the gantry on blocks, and measure the required offset directly. Note the circled areas, and the wheels sitting aside .

After making these adjustments, the results were verified by cutting two sheets of plywood, as per Gerald's squaring instructions.

gantry_on_blocks.jpg
gantry_block_closeup.jpg

measuring_wheel_offset.jpg

Last edited by Gerald D; Fri 26 August 2011 at 11:06..
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  #310  
Old Thu 25 August 2011, 18:52
melissa
Just call me: Melissa #83
 
Brighton (Ontario)
Canada
broken clamp

The MDF clamps have been doing surprisingly well. In cutting about five sheets of plywood, we only damaged one clamp, and that was by hitting the tip sideways while unloading a sheet. In normal clamping use, they're great!

clamp_broken.jpg
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  #311  
Old Thu 25 August 2011, 18:59
melissa
Just call me: Melissa #83
 
Brighton (Ontario)
Canada
More Boxes

With the gantry squared, we now had two sheets of plywood, about 25mm narrower in both dimensions. Hmm... what to make... more workshop boxes, obviously!

A full sheet of plywood, clamped on the table. Two sets of boxes were made from $13/sheet "sheathing" plywood. One set was made from $23/sheet "G1S" sanded, which was totally worth the extra $10, just for the fact that it was FLAT!

full_sheet_clamped.jpg

Cutting box parts:

cutting_box_parts.jpg

cutting_box_parts_2.jpg

box_parts_cut.jpeg

Releasing the parts, cutting the tabs with a jigsaw. This was easier and more predictable than a chisel.

releasing_parts.jpg

Last edited by Gerald D; Fri 26 August 2011 at 11:06..
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  #312  
Old Thu 25 August 2011, 19:07
melissa
Just call me: Melissa #83
 
Brighton (Ontario)
Canada
The first batch of boxes. I'm astounded how well these came out, given they were built with the cheapest grade of plywood available.

nine_boxes.jpg

Second batch, two different sizes. The taller ones are the same size as typical "banker's boxes".

boxes_2nd_batch.jpg

Around this time, we had a visit from Rob and Hannie, two Dutch boaters from New York, who were moored at the canal near our house. Rob needed a step-stool for their sailboat, and my boxes were exactly the right size. So, my first sale of a MechMate-produced part .

first_sale.jpeg
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  #313  
Old Thu 25 August 2011, 19:51
JamesJ
Just call me: Jim #104 (retired)
 
Kansas
United States of America
Nice work Melissa. Any chance we could get some close up photos of your dust foot, pvc pipe and the mounting? I ask because I am just getting a dust foot under construction. Thanks.

Last edited by domino11; Wed 13 August 2014 at 10:33..
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  #314  
Old Thu 25 August 2011, 23:12
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
I think we need an additional criteria for a serial number - show a pic of your first sale to a happy customer.

Good stuff there!
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  #315  
Old Thu 25 August 2011, 23:17
hennie
Just call me: Hennie #23
 
Roodepoort JHB
South Africa
Melissa, did you use screws and glue to assemble the boxes?

Last edited by domino11; Wed 13 August 2014 at 10:33..
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  #316  
Old Fri 26 August 2011, 04:07
smreish
Just call me: Sean - #5, 28, 58 and others
 
Orlando, Florida
United States of America
Excellent display of a MM in use. Well done Melissa. You might want to start saving all those cut off scraps for the wood stove. Winter is coming soon!

Last edited by domino11; Wed 13 August 2014 at 10:33..
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  #317  
Old Fri 26 August 2011, 05:33
Surfcnc
Just call me: Ross #74
 
Queensland
Australia
Love to see a machine making things - anything in fact. Well done.

A hint for you on removing your parts from the sheet. At the Maker Faire I saw some CNC people cutting their parts free using a straight cut router with a ball bearing guide.
Make your tab only thick enough to hold the part, even something like 3-4mm is fine then run the bearing guide along the smooth edge to release the part.
It leaves a beautiful router finish where the tab once was.
A a benefit it is also very fast to do.

Regards
Ross
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  #318  
Old Fri 26 August 2011, 10:04
camilleg
Just call me: Camille
 
Urbana, Illinois
United States of America
Hennie: polyurethane construction adhesive, clamped during cure by brads shot from a pneumatic gun.

Sean: we had quite a bonfire out back. The next morning, the coals under the ash were still hot enough to ignite plywood. (And what does a Floridian know about winter anyways? Oh, right, all the snowbirds who come down from Ontario tell you stories.)

Ross: did they do that on a spoilboard, or in free air like we did with the jigsaw?
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  #319  
Old Fri 26 August 2011, 10:09
camilleg
Just call me: Camille
 
Urbana, Illinois
United States of America
Quote:
Originally Posted by camilleg View Post
In thread t=231, Melissa, I hope you have ideas on how to make "a" thin sheet of MDF that's the full length of THIS table, rigid enough to flip over intact.
For any inquiring minds, we used 4x8 ft plywood instead of table-sized MDF. 4x8 was big enough, and the remaining scrap was plywood rather than mdf and thus usable for other projects (as you see above, with those boxes).

Last edited by domino11; Wed 13 August 2014 at 10:34.. Reason: fixed quote tags (added a / to the last tag)
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  #320  
Old Fri 26 August 2011, 16:27
timberlinemd
Just call me: Steve #66
 
Arizona
United States of America
I leave my tabs 1/2" long and 1/4" thick. The G code goes back and cuts them out last. Very little resitance when cutting them. Part doesn't move and very little sanding, if any
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  #321  
Old Fri 26 August 2011, 20:16
domino11
Just call me: Heath
 
Cornwall, Ontario
Canada
Melissa,
A thought on strengthening the ends of your mdf clamps. The guys who build the mdf routers have used thin cyano adhesive to give additional strength to mdf , maybe this would work for your clamps as well?

Last edited by domino11; Wed 13 August 2014 at 10:34..
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  #322  
Old Sat 27 August 2011, 01:49
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
Yes Steve, the machine should, and can, remove the tabs. A bit of smart programming is needed, but this is worthwhile for repeat jobs.
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  #323  
Old Sat 27 August 2011, 01:57
Surfcnc
Just call me: Ross #74
 
Queensland
Australia
For reference here is how the tabs are removed with a trimmer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C2CrzTKalE.
Watch the video to the end and you will see how quickly it can be done as they unstack the cut sheets.

Regards
Ross
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  #324  
Old Sat 27 August 2011, 03:43
hennie
Just call me: Hennie #23
 
Roodepoort JHB
South Africa
You have the machine to make boxes that don`t need glue or screws to assemble
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  #325  
Old Sat 27 August 2011, 06:14
smreish
Just call me: Sean - #5, 28, 58 and others
 
Orlando, Florida
United States of America
Camille,
I grew up just outside Cleveland (Akron really) I and have had my long winters of wet and really cold snow from Lake Erie. That's why I moved to Florida!
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  #326  
Old Sat 27 August 2011, 08:45
domino11
Just call me: Heath
 
Cornwall, Ontario
Canada
Sean,
Come to Canada, we will show you a real winter.
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  #327  
Old Sat 27 August 2011, 09:30
smreish
Just call me: Sean - #5, 28, 58 and others
 
Orlando, Florida
United States of America
Oh, were not going start the "well, it's really cold up here!". I spent enough time in NewBrunswick, Calagary, Thunder Bay and Toronto to know real cold! Again, That's why I don't even own a winter coat anymore!
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  #328  
Old Sat 27 August 2011, 09:34
danilom
Just call me: Danilo #64
 
Novi Sad
Serbia
Hi Ross,

I cant figure it out unless it's a short bit with bearing on top. And it rides the edges while tip is cutting tabs?
Some very short bit like this one?
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  #329  
Old Sat 27 August 2011, 10:54
Gerald D
Just call me: Gerald (retired)
 
Cape Town
South Africa
If there is a bearing, it is typically at the bottom (else it can gouge), but sometimes it is just solid carbide with a blunt bottom. see: http://www.google.co.za/search?um=1&...1500l2-3.2l5l0
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  #330  
Old Sat 27 August 2011, 11:40
hennie
Just call me: Hennie #23
 
Roodepoort JHB
South Africa
If you are going to do a lot of trimming invest in a Festool edge trimmer or a Lamello edge trimmer.You can do really fine adjustments on them.
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